Developer renovates historic homes in West Palm Beach neighborhoods
Real estate developer renovates historic homes in West Palm neighborhoods
A 1960s home, which was sold in 2022 after an extensive renovation, changed hands privately for a record $11 million in Palm Beach’s North End.
The Palm Beach Daily News is the first media outlet to report on the sale.
Four limited liability companies — including three registered in Louisiana — purchased the four-bedroom home at 755 N. Lake Way as “co-owners,” according to the deed recorded Aug. 1. Of those title companies, the one with the largest ownership stake is headed by New Orleans businessman and park magnate Wayne C. Ducote, business records show.
Ducote and his son, David Ducote, control the other two Louisiana-based ownership companies involved in the purchase. The fourth limited liability company is registered in Delaware, where strict privacy laws obscure the identities of anyone associated with its owners.
Wayne Ducote is co-owner of New Orleans-based Park First, which provides management, leasing and consulting services to the parking industry, according to the company’s website. He is also involved in real estate and hospitality investments. His son, who has a background in banking and investments, is chairman of Park First, which also has offices in Texas and Alabama.
The Bermuda-style home on North Lake Way has 4,000 square feet of living space inside and out. The lot is about a quarter acre and sits on the corner of Fairview Road near the south end of the Palm Beach Country Club.
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The couple, Christopher W. Kennelly and Julia L. Vasic, sold the home as successors to a trust named after the property’s address, according to court documents. That trust was on the buyer’s side when the home last changed hands for $9.9 million in February 2022.
The house was listed for sale in early January by Douglas Elliman Real Estate for about $11.4 million. Vasic, a real estate agent, had listed the property along with her Elliman colleague Jacqueline Watkins. But the listing expired on May 11, Multiple Listing Service records show.
Watkins confirmed she represented the sellers in the just-closed deal but declined further comment. She also handled the buyer side of the 2022 transaction, according to MLS records.
Vasic, Wayne Ducote and David Ducote could not be reached for comment. It is unclear whether the buyers were represented by a real estate agent.
Before the property was sold in 2022, Palm Beach real estate developer and North End resident Lee Fensterstock had completed an extensive renovation of the 1960 home and its landscape, the Palm Beach Daily News previously reported. As he had done with other properties, Fensterstock had renovated the home on speculation for a resale.
Designed by principal architect Patrick Segraves of Palm Beach-based SKA Architect + Planner, Fensterstock’s renovation added about 600 square feet to the home. Palm Beach-based landscape architect Mario Nievera of Nievera Williams Landscape Design designed the site.
In the expired Elliman ad, the house was described as a “meticulously designed home” with “high ceilings that create an airy and grand atmosphere throughout.”
The house has a 24 m² loggia by the pool with doors leading into the living room and family room. Both rooms lead into the custom designed kitchen. The house has a two-car garage and a dining room.
The Louisiana-registered limited liability companies on the buyer side were KD Gretna Properties LLC, which holds a 68% ownership interest in the home, Gravier Development LLC with a 21% interest, and Tchoupitoulas Partners LLC with a 5% interest. The Delaware-registered entity is Badine Holdings with a 6% interest.
All buyers have an address on Bienville Street in New Orleans that matches that of Park First.
When the house sold in 2022, brokers Paulette Koch and Dana Koch of the Corcoran Group represented Fensterstock’s interests, just as they had done in other sales of Palm Beach properties that he had either remodeled or built on speculation.
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This is a developing story. Check back later for updates.
